NHL free agency has some big names still available, including Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.
The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Friday night to clinch the Eastern Conference Final in five games and earn their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 2006.
Nikolaj Ehlers got loose up the center of the ice and popped the puck past Jakub Dobes at 3:29 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Saturday night to level the Eastern Conference Final at one game apiece.
The Montreal Canadiens pounced for four first-period goals on slow-starting Carolina — coming off the longest postseason break in more than a century — and handed the Hurricanes their first loss of the playoffs with a 6-2 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Alex Newhook scored his second Game 7-winning goal of the postseason, this time 11:22 into overtime in the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
Montreal Canadiens rookie goalie Jakub Dobes shook off a rough start and feels indebted to coach Martin St. Louis for not yanking him.
Captain Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans scored 68 seconds apart late in the second period, and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 to take a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Alex Newhook had two goals, again providing Montreal with some much-needed secondary scoring, and the Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 to even their second-round playoff series at one game apiece.
Bowen Byram and Ryan McLeod scored on consecutive power-play opportunities in reviving Buffalo’s anemic special-teams unit, and the Sabres defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Alex Newhook broke a tie with 8:53 left and the Montreal Canadiens outlasted the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Game 7 on Sunday night to end the thrilling first-round series.
Alexandre Texier broke a tie 1:06 into the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored his third power-play goal 1:22 into overtime and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series on Sunday night.
Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s franchise scoring record with a goal and an assist in the first period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ game against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.
Alex Ovechkin scored, Logan Thompson made 28 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series to advance in the NHL playoffs.
Goaltenders are in the spotlight for all four series resuming Sunday in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
Brandon Mountour had the fastest goal in NHL overtime history, scoring his second goal of the game four seconds into the extra period to give the Seattle Kraken a 5-4 comeback victory over Montreal on Wednesday night.